The only thing that Tony hated more than blond brats with smug faces was mornings. Especially since he only had a two-hour sleep (nap?) because of his impromptu meeting and all that boring researching.

He groaned, and buried his face deeper into the soft mattresses, trying to ignore the clamor of everyone else as they started to get ready for their first classes. His own timetable lay, a bit crumpled like a pale, fallen bird, on his nightstand. He spared one tired look at the sheet and decided that he was too lazy to get up and reach for it.

Before he could manage to fall asleep again, someone poked him rather timidly.

"Er Tony? It's Tony, right?"

Tony let out another huge sigh, but sat up, staring blearily at the shape standing next to him. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and muttered, "I need my beauty sleep."

"You're going to miss breakfast then," the shape said undeterred, walking away. "And if you fall back asleep, I can guarantee that you'll miss your classes too."

"Classes, kablasses, whatever," Tony mumbled before he unwillingly climbed his way out of his heavenly bed. On the way out, he grabbed his timetable and stuffed it deep in his cloak, before shuffling after the person, who was just disappearing out the door.

The person spared him a side glance, his expression slightly bewildered. "Didn't you sleep last night?"

"Nope," Tony stated bluntly, before giving another huge yawn. "I had research that needed to be done."

For some reason, he didn't think of bringing his usual pepper-up potions, so he was feeling like absolute trash. And of course, Hogwarts had to be in the conspiracy to "let's kill Tony Stark" because at that exact moment, the stairs began moving under his feet.

Like an idiot, he blearily stared at the ground in confusion, wondering why in the world the earth just decided to spin faster. By the time he realized that the stairs could actually move and he was definitely going to die, it was too late.

He stumbled and careened off the side of the stairs.

Only to be caught by the kid behind him, who grabbed his cloak and shoved him backward.

"You just made things harder for the rest of the Slytherins," Tony huffed, trying to appear like his heart wasn't pounding like a thousand tiny people hammering their fists against his chest. The other kid just stared at him, eyes still wide from the narrow miss.

"I- you," he tried to form the words before giving up, and gesturing to the ground that seemed like a million miles away from the top of the stairs.

Tony patted him on the back. "It happens all the time," he said shortly, before resuming his walk up. "I almost died, whoopie. Now get over it." On the plus side, he was actually awake now, so he wouldn't be catapulting down the stairs again. Dying to gravity was such a stupid way to die.

They resumed their walk to the Great Hall in silence, but now the other person looked a lot more downtrodden. Trying to ignore the hurt look on the kid's face, Tony attempted to count the stone bricks lining the walls. After the 243rd brick, he sighed and looked down.

Gruffly, he muttered, "Thanks for the save," because the quiet was becoming suffocating. Not because he felt guilty for the other kid.

He definitely didn't notice the other student brighten up at the thanks. "No problem. My parents always said I could catch anything." he cheerfully responded. A few more steps and he shyly asked, "Are you Tony Stark as in, the potion extraordinaire?"

"That's me," Tony raised an eyebrow, and couldn't stop the warm feeling of pride spread across his chest.

"I've studied a lot of your work, and it's simply amazing," the other student gushed out, his voice quiet, yet somehow filled with admiration. "Your dad must be awesome, letting you work with all his supplies and stuff."

"He's the best," Tony grimaced. But it didn't matter anyway, because the other student was already rambling on. "My parents are Muggles, but then they told me I was adopted or something. So now, apparently my biological parents are wizards and witches. Thank god, because I don't know what that Malfoy person would have done to me if they thought I was Muggle. Apparently, it's really bad to be? But I don't understand why."

Tony nodded absentmindedly, trying to pretend that he was actually listening to the rambling because, to be honest, he kinda was really bad at listening to other people, and right now he was in the mood for breakfast and not some other kid's life story. "Uh yeah. Muggles. Bad. But only because Blond-boy is stupid."

He pushed open the doors to the Great Hall. They were approaching the Gryffindor table, with their brilliant reds and yellows (the best colors), on the way to the Slytherin side of the hall, when Tony asked, "Do you know who your parents are then?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Harry pointing out something to Steve on his timetable, with Ron nodding vigorously behind them. Trying to ignore the wistful feeling that suddenly sprung up in him, he half-listened to the other student's response. "I'm from the Dolohov family. And I have no idea who they are, because I didn't get the chance to look them up yet."

Ginny was sitting next to Harry, laughing at something Hermione said across the table. But when she looked up and met Tony's gaze, something in her face closed off. He was close enough to hear Ginny muttering "Slytherins," to the other people sitting around the table. "Just like rats… pink potion… waste of time... absolute morons."

He honestly didn't think he would care anymore, but something dangerously close to rage rose up inside of him, as the whole table burst out giggling when Ginny mimicked falling down a set of stairs. He gave Ginny a sardonic smile, then muttered to the student sarcastically, gesturing to Hermione sitting nearby, "I'm sure Bushy-brown hair knows, she had like, three books on my dad."

The other student frowned. "You think I should ask her?"

"I don't know, I don't really care," Tony shrugged.

"Are you sure they won't murder me?" the other student asked warily. "I've heard that Gryffindors and Slytherins don't like to get along together."

"They were fine on the train," Tony sighed, trying to ignore the not-so-friendly looks that were so different from the smiles only a day ago. Looking back at the slightly paling kid, he added, "If you die, I'll make sure you have a good funeral."

"And is that supposed to make me feel better?" the other student said dryly.

Tony grinned and said, "I'll make sure there'll be a ton of chocolate also. Anyways, none of the Slytherins are looking over here, so you don't have to worry about them."

A pause and the kid let out a sigh. "Fine, but you'll have to buy me ice cream for the rest of the year."

"Deal."

"I can't believe I'm doing this," the kid muttered under his breath, a little grumpily, as he walked up to Hermione, who was still facing the other way, talking to Ginny. Tony watched as he shyly tapped her on the shoulder. "Er- hi!"

Hermione glanced back, gaze inviting and friendly. Until that is, she spotted the student's green Slytherin sigma on his cloak. And even if her expression didn't close off as much as Ginny's had, Tony still felt a pang of annoyance as her smile slightly cooled.

"Do you need anything?" she asked neutrally, her eyes holding a hint of suspicion. The kid's face visibly fell, and he twisted his robes in his hands nervously.

"Well- er, Tony, you do know Tony right?" The kid gestured to Tony with a free hand, letting some of the scrunched up cloth fall back down. Hermione glanced over, then looked back, seemingly amused. Some of the coolness in her voice died down as she responded, "Yep, and he's weird. Seems like you've found that out already."

Tony let out a squawk. He was not weird. He was perfectly awesome and awe-inspiring, thank-you-very-much. But of course, the kid nodded his head vigorously, ignoring the betrayed look Tony shot him. "I'm not really sure how he hasn't died yet. Honestly, that's probably magic in itself." He cheerfully smirked back at Tony, then continued, "But yeah, he told me that you knew a lot of stuff and all. So, I was wondering if you possibly knew my family? I kinda don't know who they are because-"

"Oh, are they famous? Sure, I can guess," Hermione nodded, cutting him mid-ramble, her brown curly hair bobbing behind her in friendly agreement. "Last name?"

"Dolohov," the student said, shrugging. "I'm not sure if they're famous or not but-" his voice faded when he realized that Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. "What did I say? Are they actually famous? That's actually so cool, who are-"

"I don't think she meant it that way," Tony muttered quietly, watching Hermione slowly begin to frown. "We should leave. I don't have a good feeling about this." He tried tugging on the other student's arm, but he wouldn't budge, staring at both of them confusedly.

"Why are you pretending?" Hermione said shortly. The knuckles on her hand clutched around her fork were beginning to whiten, as her wide-eyed look of surprise was beginning to narrow into something that suspiciously looked really close to fury.

"Pretending? I- I don't know… what do you mean?" the student said cautiously.

"What do you mean?" Hermione whispered dangerously. "What do you mean, you don't know what you said."

"Woah, there must be a misunderstanding, because obviously our lovely friend over here has no idea what you mean, so you better stop-" Tony tried to cut in, but was interrupted by Hermione. "Are you purposefully trying to flaunt your family in my face?"

"No, what- I don't under-" the student stuttered.

"The Dolohov's," Hermione interrupted, "are a group of Muggle-murdering fanatics that got put into Azkaban for what they've done wrong. They've murdered thousands of people, and you expect to come up to me with a smile on your face, telling me to "guess your family" name as if it was something you were actually proud of?"

Something sickly was forming in Tony's stomach, as he watched the kid try to say something but fail, as Hermione grew more furious. In the corner of his eye, he could see Harry frown and shift his gaze to Hermione, no longer looking at Steve's schedule.

"Why would you come to our table in order to flaunt that you're from the Dolohov's? You shouldn't just try to scare me off just because your parents killed off thousands of innocent people. What did you think I was going to do? Run away?"

By this time, the hall was silent, as every head turned to listen. Besides her, Ron turned around, face filled with inexplicable hatred that shouldn't be there in a third-year student, but somehow was. Ron's voice was much too loud to be even be considered friendly, even without that look on his face, when he spat out, "Your parents murdered my uncle."

"I'm sorry, I- I didn't-" the student's voice was just a whisper now, slightly wavering.

"Just shove off, and leave Hermione alone. She doesn't need you bloody blokes prancing around, bragging about their parents being murdering scumbags. Malfoy does that enough already," Ron scowled, standing up. "It doesn't matter if she's a Muggle, but I don't suppose you would ever understand that."

It might have been funny in a different case, or a different occasion, as Tony watched the gangly third-year tower over the student as they tried to stare eye to eye. But it wasn't funny, because even if the student's face looked defiant, his hands were shaking badly. "You- I don't-" he trailed off weakly, glancing back at Tony with so much indescribable hurt that only appeared for a brief second that the sick feeling in his stomach turned into an ugly slush of guilt and anger.

Hermione pulled Ron down and muttered softly, "I got this." In a louder voice, she stonily said, "You're a fool. I don't care that you're from some sort of terrible family that has noble blood. Noble from what? From killing? That makes me more proud that I'm Muggleborn."

With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Tony watched as Ginny stood up and started to applaud for Hermione. Then Harry, then Ron, then another student at the Hufflepuff table stood up, and another one at the Gryffindor table, and then a blue flourish from the Ravenclaw table, then suddenly it seemed as if the whole hall was standing up to applaud for Hermione who didn't seem like she was soaking in the applause.

"Settle down everyone," Professor McGonagall said, raising her voice above the amplified sound of applause. But out of the corner of his eye, Tony could see Professor McGonagall give a thin smile of approval to Hermione, before continuing to shoo everyone to sit down again.

When he saw the student hunch into himself, looking so so small amongst the vast cloaks of black, that's when that slush of guilt and anger and shame hardened into pure ice and shattered. Without even thinking about it, Tony walked over and grabbed the student's shoulder to gently steer him away. "Gryffindors are so ignorant," he spat back at Ron and Hermione.

"About what? Ignorant that Muggle-born wizards and witches have the exact same rights as pureblood ones?" Hermione asked.

Tony didn't focus on the resigned way she spoke. He only saw white, white at the stupid unfairness that the kid was being judged for something he didn't even mean, white for the fact that he already knew he lost the friends he thought he had made on the train. "You idiot, he's adop-"

"Don't."

Tony stopped when he heard the tired voice of the kid besides him. He turned, and there he was, staring at the ground.

"Listen to him," Hermione said, her voice also resigned and filled with disappointment. "I thought you both were actually decent, but-"

She sighed, then turned around without another word and speared a sausage on her plate with the fork she was holding tightly on for the past couple of minutes.

"Come on, you can ask me outside," the kid mumbled, tugging at Tony's robe.

"The hell, what do you mean, don't." Tony whispered indignantly as the student dragged him away from the Great Hall. He could feel the eyes of the accusing crowd following them as he was pulled along. The only pleased face in the crowd of people he could spot was Malfoy's stupid face, and his goons, all nodding approvingly when they caught his eye. He sneered back at them, sticking out his tongue.

As soon as they were out of sight of the tables, and safely outside the hall, he pulled his arm away from the student. "None of that was true," Tony spat out, running his hands in his hair agitatedly. "Why did you tell me to stop? They could have understood what you mean, and now they all hate you."

The student's voice was resigned when he answered, "I'd much rather have the Gryffindors hate me than the Slytherins." The expression on his face was so expressionless that Tony grimaced.

"What do you mean?" Tony signed, finally giving pulling up his hair into spikes, and plopped on the ground. "This was nothing to do with Slythe- oh."

A pause, and Tony finally continued, his voice toneless. "They would have known you would have lived with Muggles. Because everyone was looking at that point. And being in a family of Muggles would be a worse-" he coughed, "crime, then per se, being friends with a Muggle."

Dully, the other kid nodded, sliding down the wall beside him. "I had to either choose security over popularity. So obviously, I can't tell them."

"This is so stupid."

The student shrugged nonchalantly. Or, at least it would be nonchalant if his bottom lip wasn't shaking. "At least I know they won't try to stab me behind the back as the Slytherins would. Gryffindors are flashy. I would see them from literally a mile away." Tony watched as the kid wrapped his arms around his legs, momentarily disappearing in the folds of his black cloak. "This isn't the life I wanted to live. I thought I would be able to be myself at Hogwarts," he whispered.

"You and me both." Tony frowned. "It's just Malfoy and his cronies that believe in this blood-purist crap, right?"

The student shrugged, still a mass of black cloth. "Aren't there a bunch of Death Eaters who have kids in Slytherin? I mean, granted, they're Death Eaters who were pardoned for being Imperio-ed, or forced to help You-Know-Who, but Death Eaters are Death Eaters."

"Voldyshorts named his gang Death Munchers?"

"Death Munchers? Voldyshorts?" The student gaped at him.

"What is with all these terrible names?" Tony couldn't help but snicker.

"You don't know who the Death Eaters are?"

Tony hesitated because something about it was familiar. Then suddenly, there was a brush at the back of his mind, and the information slid back into his head from wherever it was before, almost as if a magician was wildly waving his wand in the back of his head, and in a burst of red mist, the information burst into being.

"What sort of hole did you live in? Even I know what Death Eaters are, and I just learned about the Wizarding magicky stuff a month ago."

"Nah, I know everything," Tony said. "I just-"

He paused because he didn't know what he was thinking. Of course, there was a gang of dark wizards going around calling themselves Death Eaters, but a moment before, he could have sworn that he had no idea what they were called. He shook his head.

"Eh, that was weird. But yeah, Death Munchers, Death Eaters, yadayada. Whatever they're called, they're obviously obtuse and super hypocritical."

The student stared at him, his eyes still wet. But the corners of his eyes were somewhat crinkled in amusement, and Tony couldn't help but feel relieved.

"You're weird."

"Thank you," Tony did a half bow, since his legs was blocking the rest of the way to the ground. "I sincerely appreciate your recognition of my pure awesomeness."

"Technically, I shouldn't be friends with you either," the other student huffed. "After all, there are a bunch of baby Death Munchers running all over Hogwarts. And you seem to be a trouble-magnet. Didn't Bushy-hair-" he winced indecipherably but continued, "-say something about that at the table?"

Tony grinned and stood to his feet. He offered a hand to the student who hesitated, but then took it and pulled himself up.

"What's the fun in that? You, my friend-" he gave a questioning look to the student.

"Holt."

"Ah, yes. Holt, my dear, dear friend, we shall wreak havoc to the rest of anyone who opposes after we find out what the deal is going on with the Ferret-face and the rest of the Slytherins."

The newly-dubbed Holt smiled weakly, but it was a smile nonetheless, and inwardly Tony gave a small sigh of relief. "That kind of sounds a bit tame compared to what I expected you to say."

"And that was?"

"Taking over the world."

Tony snorted. "That goes without saying. Join the Tony group, and we shall control the entire world with pink potions and hamburgers."

"Am I allowed to-"

"Nope! Not allowed to leave."

"Dang-it."

Sooooo... I'm alive. I'm so sorry, my schedule's terrible, and I know it shouldn't really be much of an excuse, but yeah hopefully I'll be updating more this month. The quarantine has been giving me a lot more time than usual, so I managed to roll out this chapter, but no promises. I know I mentioned 1-2 weeks last time, but that's been way way way off, so I don't want to raise your expectations. Thank you for being patient though, you guys are great for sticking around.

Just a few things:

1) Holt ain't an OC. I know, crazy right? Who could he be?

2) Just keep in mind that Hermione's always had to deal with the prejudice of blood-purity and all. In my opinion, her reaction to Holt was completely expected, even if it was still unfair. But in her eyes, this new Slytherin student, not even Day 2 of Hogwarts, went up to her and seemingly tried to talk about his Muggle-killing parents. Ron also- his uncles were killed by the Dolhovs, as mentioned above. And yes, that is cannon. Hopefully I made their reactions kind of reasonable and not at all villan-y because that wasn't my intention at all. ;p

Reviews:

holyghostofsteve: Thanks so much!

yournucleardeterrent: Thank you! :)

TinyFox2: Perhaps! ;) Can't say anything about it though!

Guest: Oooh, wonder why no one remembers Howard? ;) Thanks for your comments, I did think that making the Avengers first-years would be way more interesting because then we can see how they integrate within their own Houses as newbies instead of having a more typical plot with transfer students and all.

Rasi10: Really appreciated, thanks!